Luận văn thạc sĩ adapting tasks for reading lessons in english for electricity to improve the english reading skill of the first year students at electricity faculty sao do university

This study has been conducted in an attempt to investigate the difficulties in reading ESP materials, find out the necessity of adapting and recommend techniques af adapting tasks for re

ii

ABSTRACT

Reading is one of the most important skills in learning English, especially ESP For first year students at Hlectricrty Faculty in Sao Do University, reading has been given the first priority and has been paid more allsntion as the students have ta read English smaterials related to their own specialist subject This study has been conducted in an attempt to investigate the difficulties in reading ESP materials, find out the necessity of adapting and recommend techniques af adapting tasks for reading Isssons in English for Electricity to improve the reading skill of the first year students at Electricity Faculty, Sao

Do University

‘The subjects involved in the study are 8 English icachers who have taught English for Electricity and 100 students of Electricity Faculty chosen at random from 3 classes They were in their first year and have just finished studying English for Electricity The data collected from questionnaires and notes from class observation reveal that it is necessary to adapt reading tasks to facilitate reading process and help students to obtain desirable achievements in ESP reading,

The analysis of the data collected has helped the researcher to come at several problems in both teaching and leaning ESP in general and reading skill in particutar Stemming from the findings, the author has put forward adapting tasks in reading lessons

of Tanglish for Hlectrécity to improve yeading skill of the first-year students at Plectricity

Faculty, Sap Do University.

iv

LIST OF TABLES, FIGURES AND ABBREVIATION

1, Tables:

Table 1 _ Exercises believed to be suitable to develop reading skills

‘Table 2: English for Electricity’s Units

Table 3: Sludents” evaluation of the difficulties of different units in the Lexthook Table 4: Teachers’ evaluation of the difficulties of different units i the textbook

‘Table 5: ‘Teachers’ and students’ preferences for the reading activities

2 Figures:

Figure 1; Students” places of domicile

Figure 2: Students’ time of leaming English

Figure 3: Sludents’ purposes in earning ESP

Figure 4: Students’ evaluation of the difficulties in leaming Znglish for Eleviricity Figure 5: Teachers’ evaluation of the difficulties in learning English for Electricity Figure 6: Students’ views of the difficulties of reading strategies

Figure 7: Teachers’ cvaluation of the necessity of reading strategics

Figure 8, Students’ views on the reference materials

Figure 9: Time of students’ suulying outsids the classroom

GE: General English

BSP: Engfish for Speci Purposes

CLT: Commmnicalive Language Teaching

EFL: English as a Foreign Language

DC: Direct current

1.3, Research questlODs secenneieeree

14 Scope of the study

1.2.3, Reading skills in English for Specific Purposcs

13 TASK IN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND TASK DESIGNING eo

CHAPTER Il: THE STƯDY ào cesesee

11.3 THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURE

CHAPTER IL: DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

TIL QUESTIONAIRE DATA ANANYSIS AND DISCUSSION

TIL1.1, Students’ backpround of learning English and their purposes in learning ESP I11.1.2, Evaluation of the difficulties in feaming English for Electricity,

11.1.3 Evaluation of the difficulties of different mils in the texthook

I1L1.4, Evaluation of reading skills

T1.1.4.1, Students’ views of the difficulties of reading stralegies 1.1.4.2 Teachers’ evaluation of the necessity of reading strategies

TIL.1.5 Tcachers’ and students' prcfcrenecs for thc rcadina activifics

IIL.1.6 Reference naaterials for stuđenfs nút

11.2.1 Some adjustnents of teaching and Learning,

171.2.1.1, Promoting sludonts with a varicty of reading strategies

111.2.1.2 Encouraging students to develop learning habit outside elass

11.2.2 Adaptation of the reading tasks in Lnglish for Electricity

ML2.2.1 8implilymg

12.23 Ađding

MI.2.2.4 Dolcting or Omiffng nhan treo

PART HH: CONCLUSION ăn he

is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s which are Imowledge of the language” Rskey (1988) considered in advanced levets of second language the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension has Jong been recognized to be as oral skills if not more important

Though the authors mentioned above may not have exact same ideas, they all come np the common point that reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied

‘bobind these forms,

1.2.2 Reading techniques

In reading, the objective of the rcader is not always to understand which is written

down According to Grellet(1981:4), there are 4 main ways of reading: skimming, scanning,

extensive Toading and intensive reading,

Skimming

Grellct(i981:4} defined skimming as

gist of it” Skimming is used to get main points or the intention of the writer, quickly gather

ickly running onz’s cyes over a text to get the

the most imporiant information, or ‘gist’, rum one’s eyes over the text and note important

information Skimming is to quickly get up to speed on a cwrent business situation It's not

essential to understand each word when skimming

Scanning

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information The reader goes through the

text very quickly in order to look for the specific piece of information, While scanning, we

PART If DEVELOPMENT

CUAPTER L LITERATURE REVIEW

L1 ADAPTATION

11.1 Definition

According to Madsen and Bowen (1978; ix), adaptation is an action of employing “one

of more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying,

aodomizing, locelizing, or modifying cultural’ situational content”, Similarly, from Tomlinson (1998:xi) look the same position that adaptation referred lo “reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplementing”, Adaptation is a term referring to the ability to adjust

to new information and experiences Learning is essentially adapling lo our constantly changing environment, Through adaptation, we are able to adopt new behaviors that allow us

to cope with change

1.2 Adapting techniques

L121, Adding

"The notion of addition is that tasks of a textbook are supplemented by putting more into, while taking inlo account the practical effect on time allocation First, we can certainly add in this quantitative way by the technique of extending "This means that the techniques are being applied within the methodological framework of the original materials: in other words, the model is not itself changed" (McDonaugh and Shaw, 1993:89) We can da this in the following situation: A second reading passage parallel to the ane provided is helpful in reinforcing the key linguistic features - tenses, sentence structures, vocabulary, cohesive devices - of the first text, Sceond, more far-rcaching perspective on addition of materials can

be termed expanding ‘This kind of addition is not just extension of an existing aspect of content They go further than this by bringing about a qualitative as well as a quantitative change This can be thought of as a change in the averall systom’ (McDonough and Shaw, 1993-90)

£1.22, Deleting or Omitting

Deletion is clearly the opposile process 1o thal of addition, As we saw in the previous section that tasks can be added both quantitatively (extending) and qualitatively (expanding),

PART If DEVELOPMENT

CUAPTER L LITERATURE REVIEW

L1 ADAPTATION

11.1 Definition

According to Madsen and Bowen (1978; ix), adaptation is an action of employing “one

of more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying,

aodomizing, locelizing, or modifying cultural’ situational content”, Similarly, from Tomlinson (1998:xi) look the same position that adaptation referred lo “reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplementing”, Adaptation is a term referring to the ability to adjust

to new information and experiences Learning is essentially adapling lo our constantly changing environment, Through adaptation, we are able to adopt new behaviors that allow us

to cope with change

1.2 Adapting techniques

L121, Adding

"The notion of addition is that tasks of a textbook are supplemented by putting more into, while taking inlo account the practical effect on time allocation First, we can certainly add in this quantitative way by the technique of extending "This means that the techniques are being applied within the methodological framework of the original materials: in other words, the model is not itself changed" (McDonaugh and Shaw, 1993:89) We can da this in the following situation: A second reading passage parallel to the ane provided is helpful in reinforcing the key linguistic features - tenses, sentence structures, vocabulary, cohesive devices - of the first text, Sceond, more far-rcaching perspective on addition of materials can

be termed expanding ‘This kind of addition is not just extension of an existing aspect of content They go further than this by bringing about a qualitative as well as a quantitative change This can be thought of as a change in the averall systom’ (McDonough and Shaw, 1993-90)

£1.22, Deleting or Omitting

Deletion is clearly the opposile process 1o thal of addition, As we saw in the previous section that tasks can be added both quantitatively (extending) and qualitatively (expanding),

3, What reading tasks in English for Electricity should be adapted?

L4 Scope of the study

This study is limited to the arca of investigating and analyzing, the difficultics the first

‘year students of Electricity Faculty may encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity, More importantly, the focus of the sludy is to suggest techriques ta adapt some reading tasks in this textbook to improve the students’ reading skill

1.4

L5 Organization of the study

The study is cxpeeted to consist of three main paits

Part L includes rationales, aims of the study, research questians and scope of the study

Part Tincludes 5 chapters

Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background relevant to the research topic including adaptation, an overview of reading, tasks in language teaching and task designing

Chapter 2 provides with current situation of lzaching and tearing reading skill in the Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University and introduces the research methodology

Chapter 3 presents the findings of the study resulting from a statistical analysis of the collected data und some oxtra roading tasks [or “English for Fllectrivily”

Part II] presents conclusion of the study

References

Appendix,

11.3 THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURE

CHAPTER IL: DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

TIL QUESTIONAIRE DATA ANANYSIS AND DISCUSSION

TIL1.1, Students’ backpround of learning English and their purposes in learning ESP I11.1.2, Evaluation of the difficulties in feaming English for Electricity,

11.1.3 Evaluation of the difficulties of different mils in the texthook

I1L1.4, Evaluation of reading skills

T1.1.4.1, Students’ views of the difficulties of reading stralegies 1.1.4.2 Teachers’ evaluation of the necessity of reading strategies

TIL.1.5 Tcachers’ and students' prcfcrenecs for thc rcadina activifics

IIL.1.6 Reference naaterials for stuđenfs nút

11.2.1 Some adjustnents of teaching and Learning,

171.2.1.1, Promoting sludonts with a varicty of reading strategies

111.2.1.2 Encouraging students to develop learning habit outside elass

11.2.2 Adaptation of the reading tasks in Lnglish for Electricity

ML2.2.1 8implilymg

12.23 Ađding

MI.2.2.4 Dolcting or Omiffng nhan treo

PART HH: CONCLUSION ăn he

11.3 THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURE

CHAPTER IL: DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

TIL QUESTIONAIRE DATA ANANYSIS AND DISCUSSION

TIL1.1, Students’ backpround of learning English and their purposes in learning ESP I11.1.2, Evaluation of the difficulties in feaming English for Electricity,

11.1.3 Evaluation of the difficulties of different mils in the texthook

I1L1.4, Evaluation of reading skills

T1.1.4.1, Students’ views of the difficulties of reading stralegies 1.1.4.2 Teachers’ evaluation of the necessity of reading strategies

TIL.1.5 Tcachers’ and students' prcfcrenecs for thc rcadina activifics

IIL.1.6 Reference naaterials for stuđenfs nút

11.2.1 Some adjustnents of teaching and Learning,

171.2.1.1, Promoting sludonts with a varicty of reading strategies

111.2.1.2 Encouraging students to develop learning habit outside elass

11.2.2 Adaptation of the reading tasks in Lnglish for Electricity

ML2.2.1 8implilymg

12.23 Ađding

MI.2.2.4 Dolcting or Omiffng nhan treo

PART HH: CONCLUSION ăn he

3, What reading tasks in English for Electricity should be adapted?

L4 Scope of the study

This study is limited to the arca of investigating and analyzing, the difficultics the first

‘year students of Electricity Faculty may encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity, More importantly, the focus of the sludy is to suggest techriques ta adapt some reading tasks in this textbook to improve the students’ reading skill

1.4

L5 Organization of the study

The study is cxpeeted to consist of three main paits

Part L includes rationales, aims of the study, research questians and scope of the study

Part Tincludes 5 chapters

Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background relevant to the research topic including adaptation, an overview of reading, tasks in language teaching and task designing

Chapter 2 provides with current situation of lzaching and tearing reading skill in the Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University and introduces the research methodology

Chapter 3 presents the findings of the study resulting from a statistical analysis of the collected data und some oxtra roading tasks [or “English for Fllectrivily”

Part II] presents conclusion of the study

References

Appendix,

11.3 THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURE

CHAPTER IL: DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

TIL QUESTIONAIRE DATA ANANYSIS AND DISCUSSION

TIL1.1, Students’ backpround of learning English and their purposes in learning ESP I11.1.2, Evaluation of the difficulties in feaming English for Electricity,

11.1.3 Evaluation of the difficulties of different mils in the texthook

I1L1.4, Evaluation of reading skills

T1.1.4.1, Students’ views of the difficulties of reading stralegies 1.1.4.2 Teachers’ evaluation of the necessity of reading strategies

TIL.1.5 Tcachers’ and students' prcfcrenecs for thc rcadina activifics

IIL.1.6 Reference naaterials for stuđenfs nút

11.2.1 Some adjustnents of teaching and Learning,

171.2.1.1, Promoting sludonts with a varicty of reading strategies

111.2.1.2 Encouraging students to develop learning habit outside elass

11.2.2 Adaptation of the reading tasks in Lnglish for Electricity

ML2.2.1 8implilymg

12.23 Ađding

MI.2.2.4 Dolcting or Omiffng nhan treo

PART HH: CONCLUSION ăn he

Simplification has a number of further mplications Firsily, once linguistic items are changed, stylistics will be affected, and therefore the meaning of intention of the original text

is changed, Secondly, simplification of content is required when the complexity of the subject- matter is regarded as being too advanced ‘Thirdly simplification can refer to the ways in which the content is presented: we may decide nal to make any changes to the original lext,

‘ut instead to lead the learners through it in a number of graded stages

EL25 Re - oriering

This procedure refers to the possibility of putting the parts of a course book in a different order This may mean adjusting the sequence of presentation within a unit, or taking units ina differen sequence from that originally intended

L2 READING

L2.1 What is reading and reading comprehension?

E241 The definition of reading

On the teaching point of views, language skills consist of fow-macro skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Of the four skills, Carrel(1988) says that “for many students, reading by far is the thosl important of four skills in d

ond language, particularly in English

as a second or foreign language”, So “what is reading?” To answer the question, numerous attempts have been made, but according to Smith (1985) there is no point in locking for a simple definition of reading Nullal (1996:3) stated that reading is “a process wherchy one Jooks at and understands what has been written” Also, Goodman(1971:135) defined “teading

is psycholinguisties process by which the reader, language user, reconstructs, as best as he can,

a mossage which has been cneodsd by writer as a graphic display” For Gondman, this acl of reconstruction is viewed a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming

And according to Smith (1985: 102), “reading is understanding the author’s thought” ft means

that the readers “read Ihe author's mind nol the author's words”

From these definitions, each author reflects what reading means as seen fram his own points of view All what they share is that they try to find out the nature of reading and reading

act, in which the readers, reading process, and reading message arc emphasized.

is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s which are Imowledge of the language” Rskey (1988) considered in advanced levets of second language the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension has Jong been recognized to be as oral skills if not more important

Though the authors mentioned above may not have exact same ideas, they all come np the common point that reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied

‘bobind these forms,

1.2.2 Reading techniques

In reading, the objective of the rcader is not always to understand which is written

down According to Grellet(1981:4), there are 4 main ways of reading: skimming, scanning,

extensive Toading and intensive reading,

Skimming

Grellct(i981:4} defined skimming as

gist of it” Skimming is used to get main points or the intention of the writer, quickly gather

ickly running onz’s cyes over a text to get the

the most imporiant information, or ‘gist’, rum one’s eyes over the text and note important

information Skimming is to quickly get up to speed on a cwrent business situation It's not

essential to understand each word when skimming

Scanning

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information The reader goes through the

text very quickly in order to look for the specific piece of information, While scanning, we

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English has experienced its popularity in Vietnam over the last few decades, Together

with the development of General English (GE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has

become an indispensable branch in English Language Teaching in Vietnam to meet the

growing demand for communicating with foreigners and updating information as well as

technology in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics, computer science and

engineering

ESP is a compulsory subject in the training curriculum at Sao Do University Students

at Electricity Faculty are supposed to study a certain command of ESP relating industrial fields

such as: electrical engineering, electric power system, electric power in industry and

household However, ESP teaching has encountered a number of problems such as long and

difficult reading texts, students’ electrical knowledge limitation, and lack of experienced

teachers of ESP Another problem of great concern of the ESP teachers is syllabus, especially

its tasks and activities for practicing reading skill, The ESP syllabus for the first-year students

of Electricity Faculty — English for Electricity is not an exception And the desire of how to

improve the effectiveness of reading lessons is really the strong motivation

Alll the above mentioned reasons lead to the choice of the study: “Adapting tasks for

reading lessons in English for Electricity to improve the English reading skill of the first-

year students at Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University”

1.2 The aim of the study

The study aims to:

~ develop a theoretical framework which is appropriate for adapting tasks for reading lessons

in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity Faculty, Sao Do University

- investigate and analyze the difficulties the first year students of Electricity Faculty may

encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity

- adapt some reading tasks in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity

Faculty, Sao Do University.

the same point applies when a decision is taken ta omit tasks The most straightforward aspect

of reducing the length of tasks is subtracting, Addition and deletion often work together A task may be taken ont and then replaced with something else ‘the methodological change is greater when, for example, grammar practice is substituted after the omission of an inappropriale communicative function

11.23 Modifying

Modifying can be sub-divided under two related headings The first of these is rewriting, when some of the linguistic content necds modification, the sccond is restructuring, which applies to classroom management

+ Rawriling nay rotate activities more closcly to leamers’ own background and intcrest, introduce model of authentic language, or set most purposefid problem-solving tasks where the answers are not always known before the teacher asks the question

- Restructuring: For many teachers who are required to follow a course book rather strictly, changes in the structuring of the class arc sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible For example, the materials may contain role-play activities for groups of certain size The logistic of wanaging a large class (cxpecially if they all have same LI) are complex trom many points of view, and it will probably be necessary

to assign one role to a number of pupils at the same time Obviously the converse - where the class is ton small for the tolal number af roles available - is alsa possible if perhaps Jess likely,

LL24 Simplifying

The pique of sitnptification is a type of modification, namely a “rawriting" activity, The elements of a language which can be simplified are: the instructions and explanations that accompany exercises and activities, and even the visual layout of materials so that it becomes casicr to sac how different part ft logethcr However, texls, most oflen reading passages arc applied this technique Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sentences - bound elements to match the text more closely to the proficiency level of a particular group of Jeamcrs Simplification could be in the following forms: Scntenec structure, Lexical content,

and grammatical structures

is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s which are Imowledge of the language” Rskey (1988) considered in advanced levets of second language the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension has Jong been recognized to be as oral skills if not more important

Though the authors mentioned above may not have exact same ideas, they all come np the common point that reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied

‘bobind these forms,

1.2.2 Reading techniques

In reading, the objective of the rcader is not always to understand which is written

down According to Grellet(1981:4), there are 4 main ways of reading: skimming, scanning,

extensive Toading and intensive reading,

Skimming

Grellct(i981:4} defined skimming as

gist of it” Skimming is used to get main points or the intention of the writer, quickly gather

ickly running onz’s cyes over a text to get the

the most imporiant information, or ‘gist’, rum one’s eyes over the text and note important

information Skimming is to quickly get up to speed on a cwrent business situation It's not

essential to understand each word when skimming

Scanning

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information The reader goes through the

text very quickly in order to look for the specific piece of information, While scanning, we

the same point applies when a decision is taken ta omit tasks The most straightforward aspect

of reducing the length of tasks is subtracting, Addition and deletion often work together A task may be taken ont and then replaced with something else ‘the methodological change is greater when, for example, grammar practice is substituted after the omission of an inappropriale communicative function

11.23 Modifying

Modifying can be sub-divided under two related headings The first of these is rewriting, when some of the linguistic content necds modification, the sccond is restructuring, which applies to classroom management

+ Rawriling nay rotate activities more closcly to leamers’ own background and intcrest, introduce model of authentic language, or set most purposefid problem-solving tasks where the answers are not always known before the teacher asks the question

- Restructuring: For many teachers who are required to follow a course book rather strictly, changes in the structuring of the class arc sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible For example, the materials may contain role-play activities for groups of certain size The logistic of wanaging a large class (cxpecially if they all have same LI) are complex trom many points of view, and it will probably be necessary

to assign one role to a number of pupils at the same time Obviously the converse - where the class is ton small for the tolal number af roles available - is alsa possible if perhaps Jess likely,

LL24 Simplifying

The pique of sitnptification is a type of modification, namely a “rawriting" activity, The elements of a language which can be simplified are: the instructions and explanations that accompany exercises and activities, and even the visual layout of materials so that it becomes casicr to sac how different part ft logethcr However, texls, most oflen reading passages arc applied this technique Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sentences - bound elements to match the text more closely to the proficiency level of a particular group of Jeamcrs Simplification could be in the following forms: Scntenec structure, Lexical content,

and grammatical structures

Simplification has a number of further mplications Firsily, once linguistic items are changed, stylistics will be affected, and therefore the meaning of intention of the original text

is changed, Secondly, simplification of content is required when the complexity of the subject- matter is regarded as being too advanced ‘Thirdly simplification can refer to the ways in which the content is presented: we may decide nal to make any changes to the original lext,

‘ut instead to lead the learners through it in a number of graded stages

EL25 Re - oriering

This procedure refers to the possibility of putting the parts of a course book in a different order This may mean adjusting the sequence of presentation within a unit, or taking units ina differen sequence from that originally intended

L2 READING

L2.1 What is reading and reading comprehension?

E241 The definition of reading

On the teaching point of views, language skills consist of fow-macro skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Of the four skills, Carrel(1988) says that “for many students, reading by far is the thosl important of four skills in d

ond language, particularly in English

as a second or foreign language”, So “what is reading?” To answer the question, numerous attempts have been made, but according to Smith (1985) there is no point in locking for a simple definition of reading Nullal (1996:3) stated that reading is “a process wherchy one Jooks at and understands what has been written” Also, Goodman(1971:135) defined “teading

is psycholinguisties process by which the reader, language user, reconstructs, as best as he can,

a mossage which has been cneodsd by writer as a graphic display” For Gondman, this acl of reconstruction is viewed a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming

And according to Smith (1985: 102), “reading is understanding the author’s thought” ft means

that the readers “read Ihe author's mind nol the author's words”

From these definitions, each author reflects what reading means as seen fram his own points of view All what they share is that they try to find out the nature of reading and reading

act, in which the readers, reading process, and reading message arc emphasized.

11.3 THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURE

CHAPTER IL: DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

TIL QUESTIONAIRE DATA ANANYSIS AND DISCUSSION

TIL1.1, Students’ backpround of learning English and their purposes in learning ESP I11.1.2, Evaluation of the difficulties in feaming English for Electricity,

11.1.3 Evaluation of the difficulties of different mils in the texthook

I1L1.4, Evaluation of reading skills

T1.1.4.1, Students’ views of the difficulties of reading stralegies 1.1.4.2 Teachers’ evaluation of the necessity of reading strategies

TIL.1.5 Tcachers’ and students' prcfcrenecs for thc rcadina activifics

IIL.1.6 Reference naaterials for stuđenfs nút

11.2.1 Some adjustnents of teaching and Learning,

171.2.1.1, Promoting sludonts with a varicty of reading strategies

111.2.1.2 Encouraging students to develop learning habit outside elass

11.2.2 Adaptation of the reading tasks in Lnglish for Electricity

ML2.2.1 8implilymg

12.23 Ađding

MI.2.2.4 Dolcting or Omiffng nhan treo

PART HH: CONCLUSION ăn he

is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s which are Imowledge of the language” Rskey (1988) considered in advanced levets of second language the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension has Jong been recognized to be as oral skills if not more important

Though the authors mentioned above may not have exact same ideas, they all come np the common point that reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied

‘bobind these forms,

1.2.2 Reading techniques

In reading, the objective of the rcader is not always to understand which is written

down According to Grellet(1981:4), there are 4 main ways of reading: skimming, scanning,

extensive Toading and intensive reading,

Skimming

Grellct(i981:4} defined skimming as

gist of it” Skimming is used to get main points or the intention of the writer, quickly gather

ickly running onz’s cyes over a text to get the

the most imporiant information, or ‘gist’, rum one’s eyes over the text and note important

information Skimming is to quickly get up to speed on a cwrent business situation It's not

essential to understand each word when skimming

Scanning

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information The reader goes through the

text very quickly in order to look for the specific piece of information, While scanning, we

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English has experienced its popularity in Vietnam over the last few decades, Together

with the development of General English (GE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has

become an indispensable branch in English Language Teaching in Vietnam to meet the

growing demand for communicating with foreigners and updating information as well as

technology in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics, computer science and

engineering

ESP is a compulsory subject in the training curriculum at Sao Do University Students

at Electricity Faculty are supposed to study a certain command of ESP relating industrial fields

such as: electrical engineering, electric power system, electric power in industry and

household However, ESP teaching has encountered a number of problems such as long and

difficult reading texts, students’ electrical knowledge limitation, and lack of experienced

teachers of ESP Another problem of great concern of the ESP teachers is syllabus, especially

its tasks and activities for practicing reading skill, The ESP syllabus for the first-year students

of Electricity Faculty — English for Electricity is not an exception And the desire of how to

improve the effectiveness of reading lessons is really the strong motivation

Alll the above mentioned reasons lead to the choice of the study: “Adapting tasks for

reading lessons in English for Electricity to improve the English reading skill of the first-

year students at Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University”

1.2 The aim of the study

The study aims to:

~ develop a theoretical framework which is appropriate for adapting tasks for reading lessons

in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity Faculty, Sao Do University

- investigate and analyze the difficulties the first year students of Electricity Faculty may

encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity

- adapt some reading tasks in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity

Faculty, Sao Do University.

PART If DEVELOPMENT

CUAPTER L LITERATURE REVIEW

L1 ADAPTATION

11.1 Definition

According to Madsen and Bowen (1978; ix), adaptation is an action of employing “one

of more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying,

aodomizing, locelizing, or modifying cultural’ situational content”, Similarly, from Tomlinson (1998:xi) look the same position that adaptation referred lo “reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplementing”, Adaptation is a term referring to the ability to adjust

to new information and experiences Learning is essentially adapling lo our constantly changing environment, Through adaptation, we are able to adopt new behaviors that allow us

to cope with change

1.2 Adapting techniques

L121, Adding

"The notion of addition is that tasks of a textbook are supplemented by putting more into, while taking inlo account the practical effect on time allocation First, we can certainly add in this quantitative way by the technique of extending "This means that the techniques are being applied within the methodological framework of the original materials: in other words, the model is not itself changed" (McDonaugh and Shaw, 1993:89) We can da this in the following situation: A second reading passage parallel to the ane provided is helpful in reinforcing the key linguistic features - tenses, sentence structures, vocabulary, cohesive devices - of the first text, Sceond, more far-rcaching perspective on addition of materials can

be termed expanding ‘This kind of addition is not just extension of an existing aspect of content They go further than this by bringing about a qualitative as well as a quantitative change This can be thought of as a change in the averall systom’ (McDonough and Shaw, 1993-90)

£1.22, Deleting or Omitting

Deletion is clearly the opposile process 1o thal of addition, As we saw in the previous section that tasks can be added both quantitatively (extending) and qualitatively (expanding),

is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s which are Imowledge of the language” Rskey (1988) considered in advanced levets of second language the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension has Jong been recognized to be as oral skills if not more important

Though the authors mentioned above may not have exact same ideas, they all come np the common point that reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied

‘bobind these forms,

1.2.2 Reading techniques

In reading, the objective of the rcader is not always to understand which is written

down According to Grellet(1981:4), there are 4 main ways of reading: skimming, scanning,

extensive Toading and intensive reading,

Skimming

Grellct(i981:4} defined skimming as

gist of it” Skimming is used to get main points or the intention of the writer, quickly gather

ickly running onz’s cyes over a text to get the

the most imporiant information, or ‘gist’, rum one’s eyes over the text and note important

information Skimming is to quickly get up to speed on a cwrent business situation It's not

essential to understand each word when skimming

Scanning

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information The reader goes through the

text very quickly in order to look for the specific piece of information, While scanning, we

the same point applies when a decision is taken ta omit tasks The most straightforward aspect

of reducing the length of tasks is subtracting, Addition and deletion often work together A task may be taken ont and then replaced with something else ‘the methodological change is greater when, for example, grammar practice is substituted after the omission of an inappropriale communicative function

11.23 Modifying

Modifying can be sub-divided under two related headings The first of these is rewriting, when some of the linguistic content necds modification, the sccond is restructuring, which applies to classroom management

+ Rawriling nay rotate activities more closcly to leamers’ own background and intcrest, introduce model of authentic language, or set most purposefid problem-solving tasks where the answers are not always known before the teacher asks the question

- Restructuring: For many teachers who are required to follow a course book rather strictly, changes in the structuring of the class arc sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible For example, the materials may contain role-play activities for groups of certain size The logistic of wanaging a large class (cxpecially if they all have same LI) are complex trom many points of view, and it will probably be necessary

to assign one role to a number of pupils at the same time Obviously the converse - where the class is ton small for the tolal number af roles available - is alsa possible if perhaps Jess likely,

LL24 Simplifying

The pique of sitnptification is a type of modification, namely a “rawriting" activity, The elements of a language which can be simplified are: the instructions and explanations that accompany exercises and activities, and even the visual layout of materials so that it becomes casicr to sac how different part ft logethcr However, texls, most oflen reading passages arc applied this technique Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sentences - bound elements to match the text more closely to the proficiency level of a particular group of Jeamcrs Simplification could be in the following forms: Scntenec structure, Lexical content,

and grammatical structures

Simplification has a number of further mplications Firsily, once linguistic items are changed, stylistics will be affected, and therefore the meaning of intention of the original text

is changed, Secondly, simplification of content is required when the complexity of the subject- matter is regarded as being too advanced ‘Thirdly simplification can refer to the ways in which the content is presented: we may decide nal to make any changes to the original lext,

‘ut instead to lead the learners through it in a number of graded stages

EL25 Re - oriering

This procedure refers to the possibility of putting the parts of a course book in a different order This may mean adjusting the sequence of presentation within a unit, or taking units ina differen sequence from that originally intended

L2 READING

L2.1 What is reading and reading comprehension?

E241 The definition of reading

On the teaching point of views, language skills consist of fow-macro skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing Of the four skills, Carrel(1988) says that “for many students, reading by far is the thosl important of four skills in d

ond language, particularly in English

as a second or foreign language”, So “what is reading?” To answer the question, numerous attempts have been made, but according to Smith (1985) there is no point in locking for a simple definition of reading Nullal (1996:3) stated that reading is “a process wherchy one Jooks at and understands what has been written” Also, Goodman(1971:135) defined “teading

is psycholinguisties process by which the reader, language user, reconstructs, as best as he can,

a mossage which has been cneodsd by writer as a graphic display” For Gondman, this acl of reconstruction is viewed a cyclical process of sampling, predicting, testing and confirming

And according to Smith (1985: 102), “reading is understanding the author’s thought” ft means

that the readers “read Ihe author's mind nol the author's words”

From these definitions, each author reflects what reading means as seen fram his own points of view All what they share is that they try to find out the nature of reading and reading

act, in which the readers, reading process, and reading message arc emphasized.

PART If DEVELOPMENT

CUAPTER L LITERATURE REVIEW

L1 ADAPTATION

11.1 Definition

According to Madsen and Bowen (1978; ix), adaptation is an action of employing “one

of more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying,

aodomizing, locelizing, or modifying cultural’ situational content”, Similarly, from Tomlinson (1998:xi) look the same position that adaptation referred lo “reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplementing”, Adaptation is a term referring to the ability to adjust

to new information and experiences Learning is essentially adapling lo our constantly changing environment, Through adaptation, we are able to adopt new behaviors that allow us

to cope with change

1.2 Adapting techniques

L121, Adding

"The notion of addition is that tasks of a textbook are supplemented by putting more into, while taking inlo account the practical effect on time allocation First, we can certainly add in this quantitative way by the technique of extending "This means that the techniques are being applied within the methodological framework of the original materials: in other words, the model is not itself changed" (McDonaugh and Shaw, 1993:89) We can da this in the following situation: A second reading passage parallel to the ane provided is helpful in reinforcing the key linguistic features - tenses, sentence structures, vocabulary, cohesive devices - of the first text, Sceond, more far-rcaching perspective on addition of materials can

be termed expanding ‘This kind of addition is not just extension of an existing aspect of content They go further than this by bringing about a qualitative as well as a quantitative change This can be thought of as a change in the averall systom’ (McDonough and Shaw, 1993-90)

£1.22, Deleting or Omitting

Deletion is clearly the opposile process 1o thal of addition, As we saw in the previous section that tasks can be added both quantitatively (extending) and qualitatively (expanding),

the same point applies when a decision is taken ta omit tasks The most straightforward aspect

of reducing the length of tasks is subtracting, Addition and deletion often work together A task may be taken ont and then replaced with something else ‘the methodological change is greater when, for example, grammar practice is substituted after the omission of an inappropriale communicative function

11.23 Modifying

Modifying can be sub-divided under two related headings The first of these is rewriting, when some of the linguistic content necds modification, the sccond is restructuring, which applies to classroom management

+ Rawriling nay rotate activities more closcly to leamers’ own background and intcrest, introduce model of authentic language, or set most purposefid problem-solving tasks where the answers are not always known before the teacher asks the question

- Restructuring: For many teachers who are required to follow a course book rather strictly, changes in the structuring of the class arc sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible For example, the materials may contain role-play activities for groups of certain size The logistic of wanaging a large class (cxpecially if they all have same LI) are complex trom many points of view, and it will probably be necessary

to assign one role to a number of pupils at the same time Obviously the converse - where the class is ton small for the tolal number af roles available - is alsa possible if perhaps Jess likely,

LL24 Simplifying

The pique of sitnptification is a type of modification, namely a “rawriting" activity, The elements of a language which can be simplified are: the instructions and explanations that accompany exercises and activities, and even the visual layout of materials so that it becomes casicr to sac how different part ft logethcr However, texls, most oflen reading passages arc applied this technique Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sentences - bound elements to match the text more closely to the proficiency level of a particular group of Jeamcrs Simplification could be in the following forms: Scntenec structure, Lexical content,

and grammatical structures

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English has experienced its popularity in Vietnam over the last few decades, Together

with the development of General English (GE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has

become an indispensable branch in English Language Teaching in Vietnam to meet the

growing demand for communicating with foreigners and updating information as well as

technology in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics, computer science and

engineering

ESP is a compulsory subject in the training curriculum at Sao Do University Students

at Electricity Faculty are supposed to study a certain command of ESP relating industrial fields

such as: electrical engineering, electric power system, electric power in industry and

household However, ESP teaching has encountered a number of problems such as long and

difficult reading texts, students’ electrical knowledge limitation, and lack of experienced

teachers of ESP Another problem of great concern of the ESP teachers is syllabus, especially

its tasks and activities for practicing reading skill, The ESP syllabus for the first-year students

of Electricity Faculty — English for Electricity is not an exception And the desire of how to

improve the effectiveness of reading lessons is really the strong motivation

Alll the above mentioned reasons lead to the choice of the study: “Adapting tasks for

reading lessons in English for Electricity to improve the English reading skill of the first-

year students at Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University”

1.2 The aim of the study

The study aims to:

~ develop a theoretical framework which is appropriate for adapting tasks for reading lessons

in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity Faculty, Sao Do University

- investigate and analyze the difficulties the first year students of Electricity Faculty may

encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity

- adapt some reading tasks in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity

Faculty, Sao Do University.

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English has experienced its popularity in Vietnam over the last few decades, Together

with the development of General English (GE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has

become an indispensable branch in English Language Teaching in Vietnam to meet the

growing demand for communicating with foreigners and updating information as well as

technology in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics, computer science and

engineering

ESP is a compulsory subject in the training curriculum at Sao Do University Students

at Electricity Faculty are supposed to study a certain command of ESP relating industrial fields

such as: electrical engineering, electric power system, electric power in industry and

household However, ESP teaching has encountered a number of problems such as long and

difficult reading texts, students’ electrical knowledge limitation, and lack of experienced

teachers of ESP Another problem of great concern of the ESP teachers is syllabus, especially

its tasks and activities for practicing reading skill, The ESP syllabus for the first-year students

of Electricity Faculty — English for Electricity is not an exception And the desire of how to

improve the effectiveness of reading lessons is really the strong motivation

Alll the above mentioned reasons lead to the choice of the study: “Adapting tasks for

reading lessons in English for Electricity to improve the English reading skill of the first-

year students at Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University”

1.2 The aim of the study

The study aims to:

~ develop a theoretical framework which is appropriate for adapting tasks for reading lessons

in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity Faculty, Sao Do University

- investigate and analyze the difficulties the first year students of Electricity Faculty may

encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity

- adapt some reading tasks in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity

Faculty, Sao Do University.

3, What reading tasks in English for Electricity should be adapted?

L4 Scope of the study

This study is limited to the arca of investigating and analyzing, the difficultics the first

‘year students of Electricity Faculty may encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity, More importantly, the focus of the sludy is to suggest techriques ta adapt some reading tasks in this textbook to improve the students’ reading skill

1.4

L5 Organization of the study

The study is cxpeeted to consist of three main paits

Part L includes rationales, aims of the study, research questians and scope of the study

Part Tincludes 5 chapters

Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background relevant to the research topic including adaptation, an overview of reading, tasks in language teaching and task designing

Chapter 2 provides with current situation of lzaching and tearing reading skill in the Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University and introduces the research methodology

Chapter 3 presents the findings of the study resulting from a statistical analysis of the collected data und some oxtra roading tasks [or “English for Fllectrivily”

Part II] presents conclusion of the study

References

Appendix,

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale

English has experienced its popularity in Vietnam over the last few decades, Together

with the development of General English (GE), English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has

become an indispensable branch in English Language Teaching in Vietnam to meet the

growing demand for communicating with foreigners and updating information as well as

technology in the fields of electrical engineering, electronics, computer science and

engineering

ESP is a compulsory subject in the training curriculum at Sao Do University Students

at Electricity Faculty are supposed to study a certain command of ESP relating industrial fields

such as: electrical engineering, electric power system, electric power in industry and

household However, ESP teaching has encountered a number of problems such as long and

difficult reading texts, students’ electrical knowledge limitation, and lack of experienced

teachers of ESP Another problem of great concern of the ESP teachers is syllabus, especially

its tasks and activities for practicing reading skill, The ESP syllabus for the first-year students

of Electricity Faculty — English for Electricity is not an exception And the desire of how to

improve the effectiveness of reading lessons is really the strong motivation

Alll the above mentioned reasons lead to the choice of the study: “Adapting tasks for

reading lessons in English for Electricity to improve the English reading skill of the first-

year students at Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University”

1.2 The aim of the study

The study aims to:

~ develop a theoretical framework which is appropriate for adapting tasks for reading lessons

in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity Faculty, Sao Do University

- investigate and analyze the difficulties the first year students of Electricity Faculty may

encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity

- adapt some reading tasks in English for Electricity for the first year students at electricity

Faculty, Sao Do University.

is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s which are Imowledge of the language” Rskey (1988) considered in advanced levets of second language the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension has Jong been recognized to be as oral skills if not more important

Though the authors mentioned above may not have exact same ideas, they all come np the common point that reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied

‘bobind these forms,

1.2.2 Reading techniques

In reading, the objective of the rcader is not always to understand which is written

down According to Grellet(1981:4), there are 4 main ways of reading: skimming, scanning,

extensive Toading and intensive reading,

Skimming

Grellct(i981:4} defined skimming as

gist of it” Skimming is used to get main points or the intention of the writer, quickly gather

ickly running onz’s cyes over a text to get the

the most imporiant information, or ‘gist’, rum one’s eyes over the text and note important

information Skimming is to quickly get up to speed on a cwrent business situation It's not

essential to understand each word when skimming

Scanning

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information The reader goes through the

text very quickly in order to look for the specific piece of information, While scanning, we

is the most important activity in any language class, not only as a source of information and a pleasurable activity, but also as a means of consolidating and extending one’s which are Imowledge of the language” Rskey (1988) considered in advanced levets of second language the ability to read the written language at a reasonable rate and with good comprehension has Jong been recognized to be as oral skills if not more important

Though the authors mentioned above may not have exact same ideas, they all come np the common point that reading comprehension is the process in which the readers, as they read, can recognize the graphic forms of the reading text and understand what is implied

‘bobind these forms,

1.2.2 Reading techniques

In reading, the objective of the rcader is not always to understand which is written

down According to Grellet(1981:4), there are 4 main ways of reading: skimming, scanning,

extensive Toading and intensive reading,

Skimming

Grellct(i981:4} defined skimming as

gist of it” Skimming is used to get main points or the intention of the writer, quickly gather

ickly running onz’s cyes over a text to get the

the most imporiant information, or ‘gist’, rum one’s eyes over the text and note important

information Skimming is to quickly get up to speed on a cwrent business situation It's not

essential to understand each word when skimming

Scanning

Scanning is used to find a particular piece of information The reader goes through the

text very quickly in order to look for the specific piece of information, While scanning, we

3, What reading tasks in English for Electricity should be adapted?

L4 Scope of the study

This study is limited to the arca of investigating and analyzing, the difficultics the first

‘year students of Electricity Faculty may encounter when studying the reading lessons in English for Electricity, More importantly, the focus of the sludy is to suggest techriques ta adapt some reading tasks in this textbook to improve the students’ reading skill

1.4

L5 Organization of the study

The study is cxpeeted to consist of three main paits

Part L includes rationales, aims of the study, research questians and scope of the study

Part Tincludes 5 chapters

Chapter 1 deals with the theoretical background relevant to the research topic including adaptation, an overview of reading, tasks in language teaching and task designing

Chapter 2 provides with current situation of lzaching and tearing reading skill in the Electricity Faculty, Sao Do University and introduces the research methodology

Chapter 3 presents the findings of the study resulting from a statistical analysis of the collected data und some oxtra roading tasks [or “English for Fllectrivily”

Part II] presents conclusion of the study

References

Appendix,

PART If DEVELOPMENT

CUAPTER L LITERATURE REVIEW

L1 ADAPTATION

11.1 Definition

According to Madsen and Bowen (1978; ix), adaptation is an action of employing “one

of more of a number of techniques: supplementing, expanding, personalizing, simplifying,

aodomizing, locelizing, or modifying cultural’ situational content”, Similarly, from Tomlinson (1998:xi) look the same position that adaptation referred lo “reducing, adding, omitting, modifying and supplementing”, Adaptation is a term referring to the ability to adjust

to new information and experiences Learning is essentially adapling lo our constantly changing environment, Through adaptation, we are able to adopt new behaviors that allow us

to cope with change

1.2 Adapting techniques

L121, Adding

"The notion of addition is that tasks of a textbook are supplemented by putting more into, while taking inlo account the practical effect on time allocation First, we can certainly add in this quantitative way by the technique of extending "This means that the techniques are being applied within the methodological framework of the original materials: in other words, the model is not itself changed" (McDonaugh and Shaw, 1993:89) We can da this in the following situation: A second reading passage parallel to the ane provided is helpful in reinforcing the key linguistic features - tenses, sentence structures, vocabulary, cohesive devices - of the first text, Sceond, more far-rcaching perspective on addition of materials can

be termed expanding ‘This kind of addition is not just extension of an existing aspect of content They go further than this by bringing about a qualitative as well as a quantitative change This can be thought of as a change in the averall systom’ (McDonough and Shaw, 1993-90)

£1.22, Deleting or Omitting

Deletion is clearly the opposile process 1o thal of addition, As we saw in the previous section that tasks can be added both quantitatively (extending) and qualitatively (expanding),

the same point applies when a decision is taken ta omit tasks The most straightforward aspect

of reducing the length of tasks is subtracting, Addition and deletion often work together A task may be taken ont and then replaced with something else ‘the methodological change is greater when, for example, grammar practice is substituted after the omission of an inappropriale communicative function

11.23 Modifying

Modifying can be sub-divided under two related headings The first of these is rewriting, when some of the linguistic content necds modification, the sccond is restructuring, which applies to classroom management

+ Rawriling nay rotate activities more closcly to leamers’ own background and intcrest, introduce model of authentic language, or set most purposefid problem-solving tasks where the answers are not always known before the teacher asks the question

- Restructuring: For many teachers who are required to follow a course book rather strictly, changes in the structuring of the class arc sometimes the only kind of adaptation that is realistically possible For example, the materials may contain role-play activities for groups of certain size The logistic of wanaging a large class (cxpecially if they all have same LI) are complex trom many points of view, and it will probably be necessary

to assign one role to a number of pupils at the same time Obviously the converse - where the class is ton small for the tolal number af roles available - is alsa possible if perhaps Jess likely,

LL24 Simplifying

The pique of sitnptification is a type of modification, namely a “rawriting" activity, The elements of a language which can be simplified are: the instructions and explanations that accompany exercises and activities, and even the visual layout of materials so that it becomes casicr to sac how different part ft logethcr However, texls, most oflen reading passages arc applied this technique Usually, the emphasis has been on changing various sentences - bound elements to match the text more closely to the proficiency level of a particular group of Jeamcrs Simplification could be in the following forms: Scntenec structure, Lexical content,

and grammatical structures